A THANK YOU from the USA

[Reader Comments]

Salaam Alaikum,

Yesterday I read a news clip from the BBC website about Muslim vs Christian fighting in Nigeria. There was a line about Muslims raping female captives and how this was permitted in Islam according to the passage "....those whom your right hand possess...." This has always troubled me in the past. I have been a Muslim for 37 years having converted(reverted) at the age of 18 while in college.

As I searched the internet for a clear understanding of the verse I clicked on your website - quransmessage.com. Firstly, I was impressed by its graphic quality and user-friendly interface. But I was thoroughly and pleasantly astounded by your arguments for the sovereign, absolute and eternal sacredness of the Quran and how hadith and sunnah are indeed secondary and imperfect sources of enlightenment and Islamic understanding.

THANK YOU!

So many muslims in my area of the USA are totally subsumed by sunnah and hadith at the expense of the pure teaching of Allah's Holy Quran. They are missing the essence of Islam, its tranquility, its sublimity.

Interestingly, when I accepted Islam at the age of 18, it was as a follower of Imam Warith Deen Muhammad who always taught us to study Quran and not worry about the hadith or sunnah. He emphasized mastery of the edicts and message of the Quran and to become a slave of Allah so that we may become masters of ourselves.

When I later began reading a set of Bukari Hadith I was confounded and baffled by its texts. It actually made me feel repulsive to Islam(my soul's raison d'etre).

There were so many crude analogies and limitations on conduct that I stopped reading it. I asked myself "How can I follow these innumerable and contradictory prohibitions and still have a semblance of a happy and serene life in the USA?

I resolved to follow Quran as best I could and approach sunnah and hadith cautiously and with circumspect.

Thank you for your scholarly writings on "true" Islam and the history of hadith and sunnah. I spent 5 continuous hours on your website yesterday and it was all good.

Maa Salaam,

(an M.D.)